Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (7 page)

            
‘Shoot now!’

            
If it weren’t for the sandy almost golden shade of hair she wouldn’t recognize this monster for
the same one she’d seen last night. Even as the jerking movements became more relaxed, more fluid
and his approach was faster and more recognizable the fear held her still.

            
‘Shoot now or die those are your choices.’

            
The voice told her as if she didn’t already know what would become of her if she did nothing.
But still she stood frozen, not even the frantic voice coming from the radio enough to pull her past the
fear.

Chapter 4

            
She didn’t hear a word of what Malcolm was trying to say, she couldn’t pull the trigger, she
was the epitome of worthless. Everything about the way this vampire now moved screamed at her to
turn and run from him. Before anything else was said the sudden explosion of a gun shot went off
behind her, she didn’t have to look back to know that it was Manson. She watched the monsters
shoulder explode in a red mass, the caliber of Manson’s weapon forcing the figure back but not taking
it off it’s feet. But even with the severity of the wound it didn’t cry out, not in pain, not in anger, he just
looked at his arm as it hung limp and useless at his side. His shoulder a mass of pulp that would have
made any normal person or even vampire cry out, do something. But as quickly as the injury had
occurred it was forgotten and its attention was back on her and Manson. She cringed as its eyes
glinted like an animals in the dark catching what little light there was and casting it back at them. The
vampire moved to charge again but this time without a seconds hesitation she pulled the trigger. The
shot caught their killer in the gut and sent him stumbling back unto the ground. This time something very
close to the cry of a wounded animal rang back to her and Manson. In the time it took her to pump the
Remington and reload the figure on the ground had disappeared. "Shit," she glanced back at Manson,
"he’s gone he’s not up here."

            
"We’re clear behind," was all the response that Manson gave.

            
She nodded and snatched the radio from the side of her belt, "God damn it Malcolm what the
hell is this. What the hell were you thinking?"

            
"
Didn’t you hear anything I just said?
"

            
His voice came back panicked over the radio again, what was going on she didn’t know, what
she did know was that they could have had that monster and now he was gone. "No I didn’t hear a
God damn thing you said we were a little busy back here."

            
"Marcia spotted another one while we were doing a pass, there’s another one that
went down a sewer drain, covered in blood."

            
The panic in his voice was a solid reminder for Jennifer just how little of the horror Malcolm
was actually exposed to. "Did it look.....off," Jennifer paused searching for the right word to describe
it, but this vampire was not right and she needed to know why.

            
"What?"

            
"Never mind," Jennifer amended, "don’t stop keep moving, I don’t want you to get pinned
down."

            
"
There were gun shots is everybody okay?
"

            
"Fine," she answered irritably, what the hell was going on here?

            
"
Cops won’t be far off Jenny, better wrap this up fast.
"

            
"We’ll do what we can, let me know if he passes you guys again." With that she put the radio
back where it belonged at her side. "Two of them, now there are two," she tried to comfort herself
with the idea that it sounded as though the second had made for an escape.

            
"Could explain why there were twice as many victims," Manson offered.

            
"No, he was alone last time, the ones like this are always alone, everything about this is wrong.
Something’s wrong with him and now we have another blood drenched body running around. He
wouldn’t turn one of the victims would he, he didn’t last time, it’s too fucking weird."

            
"The Bishop wouldn’t want you using the ‘f’ word like that." Manson reprimanded from
behind her out of habit, fatherly habits died hard.

            
"I confess almost every day Manny, I think God can forgive me a few measly swear words.
Besides it’s just letting off a little steam, who could it hurt." She looked back at Manson and found him
smiling and shaking his head. Who could it hurt after all, in the end what did it matter if she swore or
not, their imminent death was a possibility whether she did or not, let God sort the details out after that.

            
"Right, onward," Manson’s smile didn’t fade, that always seemed to give her the confidence
that she needed. She’d probably never be sure if he knew that or if he just thought this was really that
much fun. Didn’t matter, she started forward at a quicker speed. Maybe he was still in the area maybe
he wasn’t, point being that he wasn’t dead. She’d messed up again, they couldn’t stick around. With
the cops as close by as they were they will have heard the shots and be coming very soon to
investigate. It was best not to be there when they showed, not that any of her or Manson’s artillery had
been acquired illegally, it hadn’t, but none of it was all that legal to carry on the street either. And the
cops would definitely want to know what the hell they were carrying it all for. That was never an easy
question to answer, and though she was positive that they had contacts that could bale them out, she
didn’t want to be handcuffed and shipped to the police station for hours for doing her job.

            
‘He’s still here, if the police do come he’ll kill them all, so I wouldn’t worry about them
now. I feel him, he didn’t go far."

            
"Only an idiot would stay here when they could escape."

            
"What?" Manson asked from behind her.

            
"He’s still here," she didn’t look back at Manson this time afraid that it would show on her face
that she’d been addressing the voice in her head. But still there was something about the way the hair
on the back of her neck stood on end that let her know her body sensed something dangerous near by.
"I can’t see a God damn thing up here."

            
"Keep your ears open Jenny," Manson eased, "if he’s still here he’ll come at us soon enough."

            
"I don’t suppose he’d wait for me to be ready too," she tried to reach out with her other senses
but it was as if just the sight of that vampire had made everything in her seize up. Outside of her own
aches and pains her senses wanted nothing to do with finding that vampire.

            
‘Don’t lose focus, you’re alright. The arm isn’t in anymore pain then it was before now.
You can breath just fine and your senses are all working like normal just open your mind, let go
of the fear and reach out and find him.’

            
She tried to open up to everything around her but it was like her mind just sealed itself off. She
couldn’t make it open like she usually could, it was protecting her from something. What she didn’t
know, something about all this was throwing off her normal reflexes. She couldn’t place it but it was
there, and it was pissing her off that it was inhibiting her. She started scanning the space in front of them
but if he was waiting out in the darkness in front of her he was well concealed.

            
‘I’ll be your eyes, just listen, feel out for him.’

            
She stopped moving forward, Manson of course, aware of her every motion stopped a good,
protect-able length away. Enough room to maneuver if she needed to, she closed her eyes for a
second and just listened for a moment. In that moment she could hear someone out there other than
Manson near them, where she didn’t know but she could hear every tiny move that he made. So he
was out there still, but where? As if the voice in her head was really there with her he whispered the
answer to her.

            
"Look up.
"

"He’s up on the roof somewhere," Jennifer warned Manson.

            
"Which roof, we have buildings on both sides."

            
"Hey Manson, you want to cut me some slack here, he’s on the roof, which one, pick one.
He’s up and we’re down that’s all that matters, how the hell am I supposed to know which one. Do I
look psychic to you?" Regularly she might have been able to hint at which it was but she was partially
in this moment relaying on someone she didn’t know.

            
"How do you know he’s up there?"

            
"I don’t know, I just know," Jennifer spared a look back at Manson. "Any ideas on how to
get him to come down?" She asked in hopes of changing the subject and avoiding the fact that she had
a voice that could be completely deceiving her giving her tips.

            
"Not a clue, I’ve got the M72 on me." He mentioned with a smile.

            
"Oh no way, there are people in these buildings Manny, we might kill some of them. And if the
cops do show up I don’t think they’ll take that too lightly." She shook her head, Manson was joking
she knew it, but sometimes his jokes were more unnerving then funny.

            
‘He’s to your left, near the ledge, you won’t be able to see him in the dark. Fire a shot
up at the building, it doesn’t matter if you can’t see him. Just remind him that you’re here.’

            
"He shouldn’t need a reminder that I’m here," Jennifer argued but aimed the Remington up at
the ledge on her left.

            
"You’re talking to yourself kid, I don’t have a god damn clue what you’re talking about."
Manson gave a quick amused shake of his head before turning back to their flank.

            
"Language Manny, watch your language, the Bishop wouldn’t like it." Before Manson could
answer her joke she pulled the trigger, there came a scream, she hit something. "I hit him," with that
she realized that he would either move away from them or come straight for them. Something was
telling her that this vampire was running on instinct and not much on smarts. He was more efficient
yesterday than he was today, today he was acting like an idiot.

            
"Where is he Jenny?"

            
"You’re asking me," she glanced back at Manson who was searching the darkness as
frantically as she was. If there was anything in that moment that Jennifer could hope that Manson was
going to say to her it wasn’t that. That damned vampire and whatever his problem was brought the
terror in her screaming to the surface the way it used to before she learned to control it, learned to
channel it into something useful, like violence. All of that seemed forgotten in the face of whatever the
hell was going on here. "This thing isn’t right," the tremors that the words were laced with were enough
to let Jennifer know she was not prepared for whatever this was.

            
"Keep your cool," from Manson behind her, usually his rock solid resolve was inspiration
enough to do just that, but there was more than just something ‘not right’ here. She had seen this
before, she knew it even when she had no idea why it was she thought so. She had never seen this
vampire before outside of the night before and even so there was a drastic difference between then and
tonight. The difference was remarkably large, the other night he had been violent for sure but there had
been a certain calculated feel behind each action that wasn’t there tonight, the same way the grace was
gone. Tonight he was moving like a corpse and with as much blood as he must have consumed tonight
his movements should be fluid, his injuries from the night before should have healed.

It seemed like a long time had passed while she stood silent in the darkness, knowing something
was lurking out there. ‘Where are you damn it?’ Her eyes snapped open as her breath caught in her
throat, she had been in more situations then she could count where fear was an emotion that was
present but she had always been capable of containing it, had never hesitated in the face of it. She was
aware that she had stood still too long, there were shots fired and it wouldn’t take long for official types
to arrive, if she was going to end this it had to be soon or not at all tonight. Forcing herself to take the
first even breath she’d managed in minutes she took a step forward and another making herself focus
on each and every crevice of the space around her. She sensed before she saw movement to her right,
her luck that the bastard would try to sneak up on her on her bad side. On reflex the Remington
snapped up and she had a shot fired off before her eyes had fully focused on the blood drenched
features coming up on her. The Remington was a high caliber weapon, would knock even the undead
off their feet, this one did little more than stumble back before recovering its gait and charging forward.
"Manson," she ground out a warning through clenched teeth fully aware that her big partner would be
able to help very little until he could either maneuver around her or she moved out of the way. She was
dependent on him to do the second because the vampire was on her in seconds, she managed to pump
the shot gun and fire another round into it’s mid-section before it was in reaching distance of her. With
clumsy speed it made a grab for her, she managed only barely to escape the hands that swiped at her.
On instinct and with no time to load before it tried to swipe again Jennifer took hold of the barrel in both
hands and rammed the butt of the shotgun into the things chin. The blow contained enough force to
push it back but only a step, it wasn’t enough to give her time of any sort and so faster than she could
react it struck out again, the blow taking her in the right shoulder, tossing her aside like a rag doll with
one swipe.